Resale Concepts in the Fashion Industry: Value Creation on the Resale Market for Clothing

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the thesis was to explore the Danish fashion industry’s newly launched resale concepts related to the competitors and consumers on the market to create a knowledge base for new companies that want to succeed with circular concepts and become part of the growing resale market for clothing, through differentiating themselves from other resale solutions and creating value for consumers. Therefore, the thesis explores the research question of how resale concepts from the Danish fashion industry differentiate themselves from other resale solutions and thereby are trying to create value for consumers, as reseller and customers, in the resale market for clothing. Methodology: The study takes a phenomenological approach as it deals with potential customer segments and seeks to study integrated cultural patterns that unconsciously affect the life of individuals. Therefore, an inductive study approach has been chosen with an appropriate qualitative study design. Theoretical framework: Based on the theory of circular business models in the fashion industry, the analysis at first seeks to examine the fashion industry's entry into the resale market. Second, the various resale solutions on the market and their differentiation from each other are analyzed. Finally, with the theory of disposal behavior and sustainable consumption, the resale market’s value creation for consumers in the disposal and purchase process is analyzed. The analysis leads to a discussion of value creation in the resell market with the four resale concepts as subject. Empirical findings: The study shows that companies, through their choice of partner (resale platform), create a unique resale concept that differentiates from other resale solutions on the market. Where resale concepts all create value for customers of secondhand clothes through various store-related characteristics such as offering only one brand, quality assurance, and the opportunity to try on the clothes or return them, the value creation for consumers as resellers is difficult. The study finds, that resale concepts that differ much from popular resale solutions in either convenience or financial gain, do not create the same value as resale concepts that adhere to these.